The newest Signal: Jason Zimdars, designer May 13
54 comments Latest by Eric Granata
Today we announce the latest addition to the 37signals team: Jason Zimdars (“JZ”). Jason is a designer who lives in Oklahoma. You can find out more about him on his site.
JZ is going to be working closely with Ryan and me on app UI design while Jamie continues to kick ass on the marketing/public side of things. Mysteriously, Jason is the 7th person at 37signals to have a name that starts with J.
We’ve been talking to JZ on and off for the past year (here’s his original pitch). We considered hiring him before, but the timing and fit just wasn’t right. Now it is.
Why do we need another designer?
Even though we’re a design driven company, designers at 37signals are outnumbered about 2 to 1. Since we design interface first, this presents a problem.
There are often changes and improvements we want to make, but we don’t have enough slack on the design side to jump in and design the UI. This slows us down and makes it harder for the programmers to implement the features.
Having JZ on board will allow us to focus on improving our UIs, adding new features, polishing up existing features, and exploring new product concepts.
Why did we hire JZ?
Whenever we announce we’re hiring for a designer position, we get hundreds of responses and resumes. After evaluating people’s basic taste and skill level, we turn to other things. How do they think? What do they think about? How do they approach problems? Can they write? Do they enjoy writing? Can they express themselves concisely? How do they work when they aren’t given direction? Stuff like that.
We liked what we saw, heard, and read from JZ so we asked him to do a few paid contract projects for us. One was a quick one week exploration of variations on the Highrise Contacts screen. We gave him a week, barely any direction, and let him run with it. Jason had a full time job, so he had to squeeze in time after work. Here’s what he came up with. All things considered, we were very happy with the explorations, how he explained himself (although he’s a bit verbose — something he’ll have to work on), and the decisions he made.
After that we flew him into Chicago to meet with us for a day. We described another product we were thinking of building and asked him to mock up the UI for it based on a series of very rough sketches. Over the past few weeks he’s been working on that — also in his spare time. It was a challenging project that required a lot of problem solving. We were thrilled with what we saw. And if we decide to do this product in the next few months, you’ll see his fingerprints all over it.
So the skills were there, the thinking was there, the writing was there, the self-driven motivation was there. And to top it off, he’s a fine person and all around good guy. Character means a lot to us and it certainly helped JZ get this job.
JZ is coming to a 37signals app near you
Jason is starting in a few weeks. We have a really cool first 8 weeks for him. He’ll be exploring a variety of interface elements and screens in our existing apps in the style of the old 37express projects. Redesign one screen in one week (much like he did with the Highrise exploration). We plan on sharing many of these explorations right here on Signal vs. Noise. And hopefully we’ll be working his work into our products soon after.
So please welcome Jason Zimdars to our team! We’re pumped to have him.
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Over 1 million people use 37signals' simple web-based software to collaborate on projects, track contacts, and organize their business with an intranet.
54 comments so far
JD 13 May 09
Welcome aboard man! Congratulations!
Matt Sanders 13 May 09
Congratulations, Jason. I think this is the perfect fit for you. Look forward to seeing what all of you come up with next.
Andrea Decker 13 May 09
37Signals; You’ve done well. Jason Zimdars is one of the best people I know. I’ve never met a man with higher integrity or greater gifts.
Michael Dick 13 May 09
Congrats to JZ and 37s, you couldn’t have chosen a better guy for the team!
Matt Grimm 13 May 09
w00t! Congrats jz!
Chris Casciano 13 May 09
Congrats JZ!
Amine Ouahidi 13 May 09
Congrats!! that’s awesome…
Dustin 13 May 09
nice man, congrats, when are you taking me out to dinner ;)
Sami Niemelä 13 May 09
Jason’s awesome. Congrats both 37s & JZ :)
Rebecca Baisden 13 May 09
Congratulations Jason!
Tommy Yi 13 May 09
Dude, congrats! So Happy for you.
Chad Jaggers 13 May 09
JZ is an extremely talented and wonderful person. This is a perfect fit!
Jake 13 May 09
Congrats! Wow, that Highrise contact screen thing was fun to read. Talk about a hiring process that ensures a high-quality fit!
PS 13 May 09
Congratulations!
SvN is going to need updating – otherwise we won’t know which ‘Jason’ has made a blog post – assuming he works on his verbosity and gets the chance of course :)
Tim Wall 13 May 09
Congrats, JZ and 37signals. What a great fit. Jason is an amazing talent.
Dennis Eusebio 13 May 09
Congrats Jason!
Micheil Smith 13 May 09
Jason looks like he has some really good fresh ideas, and quite a bit of talent – looks like a wise move from the 37signals side.
Congrats on the position Jason!
Vance Lucas 13 May 09
I know Jason (JZ) will do great things at 37signals. He’s one of the best designers I know. Thanks for bringing some love to Oklahoma, Jason :) – hopefully the nation will start to catch onto all the hidden talent we have here!
MI 13 May 09
Welcome aboard, JZ! Even though you’re part of the J-name conspiracy…
Harold 13 May 09
What a great pairing. Congrats Jason, can’t wait to see your work start to show up in the 37s app portfolio.
Great find for the 37s team.
Scott 13 May 09
Wonderful! I’ve worked with Jason for years on LightCMS. He’s a joy and a hard worker. You’ll be blessed to have him on your team.
Michael 13 May 09
Couldn’t resist exploring the root dir of that Highrise mockup. Now that is an application! No wonder you got the job.
Marcus 13 May 09
We were lucky enough to work with Jason a couple of years ago on our BigFilebox site, and we still get a huge volume of visitors referred from the large number of positive reviews the design received in the online design community. He created an excellent interface for us as well as the overall design.
Congratulations Jason on your move to 37signals!
Travis Schmeisser 13 May 09
Congrats Jason!
Jason Zimdars 13 May 09
Man, wow!
Thanks to all of your for such kind words. I’m just blown away by all of the kind words and well wishes. I’m humbled by the support, and thrilled for the future.
Can’t wait to get started!
Andy Kant 13 May 09
@JZ The Icebrrg design in your portfolio is ridiculously sexy and your Highrise contacts exploration is very impressive. Great hire, congrats on your new job!
Don Schenck 13 May 09
Well done, Jasons (plural intended).
Rex Barrett 13 May 09
Wow, very cool that the guys from Oklahoma are getting recognized. We have a great crew of developers and designers. JZ, congratulations! Seemed like a pretty rigorous process they put you though. Have fun in your new endeavors.
Tony Carrera 13 May 09
Congratulations to Jason!
I’ll also add that I hired Jason for a small project I am working on (http://wheresmypet.com) in the last few weeks/months which coincides with his contract work with 37signals. Not only was he working a full-time job but he was doing design work for both 37signals and myself (and maybe even others).
I couldn’t be happier with Jason’s work and if 37signals hadn’t hired him, I would have definitely put in an offer some time in the future.
Good luck!
-Tony Carrera
web 9.2 13 May 09
From his SVN page:
“I think that “Designed by Apple in California” is the most brilliant thing to ever appear on a package.”
LOL . I forgot you’re only a real designer if you adore Apple.
What’s the whole slogan? “Designed by Apple in California. Made by slaves in China.”
Vinoj Zacharia 13 May 09
JASON !! Absolutely ELATED for you!
Rod Zimdars 13 May 09
As Jasons’ Father….I know what an exceptional talent and person he is…..and hearing that from others …..
Well,it just doesn’t get any better than that…...
Bence 13 May 09
Congrats Jason, glad to see my Starter Kit PSD as the template for the Highrise Contacts screens you did. Great work!
Happy 13 May 09
I’m impressed with JZ’s pitch to 37signals. In a few simple pages JZ was able to give a real feel for what he does, what he thinks of 37signals, and how he sees himself contributing. Good job.
Tim 13 May 09
Interesting page too: http://jasonzimdars.com/svn/
Nicely designed and an awesome cover letter. I suppose that’s the least a web designer can do but I like how it shows the detail put in the job application.
Ashley Humphreys 13 May 09
Jason – What an opportunity. 37 is very lucky to have you. Look forward to seeing your work. Great things ahead.
Nate Burgos 13 May 09
Congratulations Jason! Good written summary of your exploration of the Highrise contacts screen. As your counterpart Jason said, “Good writing is good design.” Keep it up.
Brian Mays 13 May 09
Congratulations, Jason. It was our privilege to work with you.
Joshua Ogle 13 May 09
Congratulations, Jason! It’s a perfect match, and I’m looking forward to the products from 37signals getting even more amazing.
Scott Horton 13 May 09
Congratulations dawg!
Ryan Hickman 13 May 09
Congratulations Jason! It was a pleasure working with you when I did. Good job 37signals!
Ben 13 May 09
Sounds like JZ is as brilliant as JWZ . Probably a better employee, though.
Stanley Wood 13 May 09
Loving your work. I’d read a blog/twitter of your first 8weeks.
Ugur Gundogmus 13 May 09
It seems that you you hired a brilliant designer. Congratulations, Jason!
Mark Bult 14 May 09
37Signals, the way you run your business is a model I hope many companies will emulate.
Jason, congratulations on the great new gig, and 37S, congratulations on finding a great young designer.
JiPé 14 May 09
Congrat JZ, I’m really impress by your talent. I always liked the Icebrrr home page design layout and never knew it was you. What you did for Highrise is pretty damn good. I hope to see some of it integrated in the coming months.
The selection process of 37Signals is definitely outstanding.
Chris Forbes 14 May 09
Wow, you sure this is the same Jason Zimdars from Oklahoma city I know? I mean there could be others, right?
In case it is the one I know—he’s an insanely great designer and a very pleasant and easy guy to work with. Every project he touches is golden!
Congrats 37 Signals, that’s a good get!
Chris Tingom 14 May 09
Wow, very nice design work on the Highrise screens. Especially like the layout of the tags.
Paul Schreiber 14 May 09
JZ misspelled résumé.
ouch.
Jeppe Sjöström 14 May 09
Paul Schreiber, too bad you’re wrong.
Don MacDonald 14 May 09
JZ, I really like the overhaul you gave Highrise, especially the colors/fonts. It does look brighter and more inviting. But I hope they set you loose on Basecamp. BC needs some love.
Paul Schreiber 15 May 09
I disagree. The Merriam-Webster dictionary agrees with me. So does the Chicago Manual of Style (§51, p22).
The Associated Press’ Stylebook is silent on the issue.
Chris 18 May 09
I remember 37 signals usually followed the sharpie to html work flow and was wondering if this will change considering your new design talent with Jamie and JZ doing most of their design work in Illustrator/Photoshop. Will markup be your last step before you decide on UI changes?
I was always curious about that—I know the product pages would move that direction but was wondering if the actual apps would follow suit…
Eric Granata 20 May 09
Just heard about this. I am so happy for you, Jason! You deserve this:-)
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